Giant Eagle’s WARN Notice Puts Lost Jobs at 196

Giant Eagle’s WARN Notice Puts Lost Jobs at 196

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AUSTINTOWN, Ohio – Giant Eagle Inc., the Pittsburgh grocery store chain that operates the Tamarkin Co. food warehouse at 375 Victoria Road, says 196 workers will lose their jobs the week of May 9 when the operation closes. Of these positions, 164 are maintenance, warehouse and driver jobs; 16 are staff and another 16 are management and human resources employees.

The numbers are contained in the official WARN notice from Giant Eagle Inc. to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, posted Thursday (CLICK TO READ). The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires employers to give official notice to certain government units of officials of a pending plant closing. Giant Eagle’s letter was addressed to Michael Dockry, Austintown Township administrator, and to the ODJFS Rapid Response Division.

The maintenance, warehouse and driver employees, represented by Teamsters Local 377, “do not have bumping rights [or] an opportunity to transfer but may be considered for employment at other Giant Eagle facilities,” states the notice, signed by Joe Hurley, the grocery chain’s senior vice president of distribution & logistics.

Giant Eagle informed the union Feb. 26 that it would close the Tamarkin warehouse and distribution center and move operations to “a third party represented by another Teamster union [that operates] a frozen foods distribution center in Ohio.”

The decision followed the Teamsters’ rejection in two separate votes of Giant Eagle’s offer to build a $5 million warehouse in the area in exchange for some changes in work rules, lower pay for entry-level workers and contributions to a 401(k) in lieu of continued participation in the Teamsters’ pension plan.

Copyright 2018 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.

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